Even though I live in East Tennessee, I’m a Texas girl through and through. I was raised in the country but I’m totally a city girl. Living in Tennessee is the next best thing to living in Texas, except Texas is still where I call home.
So it’s no surprise that this weekend will cause a lot of conflict and anxiety and heartbreak in my house. You see, my heart is going to be divided this weekend as the Tennessee Volunteers play the Aggies of Texas A&M at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas. Why is my heart going to be divided? Well, I’ll tell you why…
On one hand, I’m from Texas… West Texas, out near Lubbock, but I’m from Texas nonetheless. Even though I haven’t lived there since 1989, my heart, and sometimes my hair, is as big as Texas. I still tell anyone who asks me if I’m from here in Tennessee that I’m originally from Texas, but that I went to college in Tennessee (just not UT-Knoxville), and then met and married a good ol’ Tennessee boy.
On the other hand, I live just outside of Knoxville, Tenn., home to the Tennessee Volunteers where people “bleed orange” and say they are “#vfl” (vols for life). In fact, I just purchased my first Tennessee Volunteer t-shirt a few weeks ago. It’s not orange, but it gray and glittery and says Tennessee Vols on it. Also, I enjoy watching the Vols play because they have some outstanding players.
I want to cheer for the Volunteers when they score and I want to cheer when the Aggies score. So what am I going to do?
Last year, I traveled to College Station, Texas, to attend the last Texas A&M home game with my brother who was a junior at TAMU. The Aggies played, and ultimately beat, Western Carolina. I went to the Midnight Yell and met some amazing people while walking around the campus with my brother. The game was awesome and we didn’t sit down the entire time. Not only was the game awesome, but the I left TAMU with a sense of that good old Texas pride and several TAMU shirts. TAMU students, faculty, staff, alumni, and fans truly are the “12th Man”. Once an Aggie; always an Aggie.
(Wanderlust Wednesday: Texas A&M)
I get chills just thinking about what a great time I had attending the TAMU-Western Carolina game last year, and I can just imagine the excitement in Kyle Field on Saturday when Texas A&M takes on the Tennessee Volunteers.
So again I say, my heart is going to be divided… but in a good way. I’m not going to pick sides. I’m just going to enjoy a great football game and hold up a Vols sign with one hand and the “gig ’em Aggies” thumbs up with the other hand.
So who are you rooting for in the match-up between the Vols and the Aggies?
Yours Truly,
Vanessa